


A Dissident Symphony

by evercloseyoureyes



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, F/M, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Jewish Character(s), LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Trans Female Character, lgbt male character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2019-10-05 22:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17333570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evercloseyoureyes/pseuds/evercloseyoureyes
Summary: This story is about Nisha Kakkar, a young woman who suddenly finds herself thrown into a job she's never wanted and forced to live on the fringes of a society she would have never willingly joined. It's also about found family, really cool superpowers, complex social issues, and the journey to self love.Come join Nisha and her new life as she learns: what makes something worth fighting for, and more importantly, what makes it worth living for?





	1. Cambiare

Chapter 1-  Cambiare

 

Light clicking sounded from the train as it steadily moved along its track.

The passengers, thoroughly used to the noise and movement associated with the commute paid it no mind, engrossing themselves with books and cellphones. One woman stood, holding onto the handrail for support. Her general height made her lumber slightly over the seated passengers as she swiped through news articles on her phone. 

 

“Did you hear the news?” A man next to her asked. She politely tucked her phone away into her pocket and turned towards him, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s pretty vague” she told him, somewhat flatly. “Could mean anything.”

“I  _ meant _ with the stricter regulations!” He responded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“I’m well aware of them.” The woman said, taking a second to quickly glance at the screen by the doors of the train to check for her stop. It was coming up soon, thank god. “My company is having mandatory screenings today.”

The man seemed a little put off by that, and he scuffed his foot on the train’s floor for a moment. “Well, I think it’s right. Catch those mentalists in their tracks.” He said, a grand air of superiority coming off of him in waves with the confidence of someone convinced what they were doing was morally right. “Come to think of it, if any of them tried to hurt a pretty lady such as yourself I would knock them dead!”

 

“I’ll keep that in mind the next time someone sets my house on fire.” She responded promptly. Lights flashed above them and the pleasant beeping of train reaching a stop played. The woman grabbed her backpack off its position by her feet and deftly walked through the train doors, successfully ignoring the man’s pleas for her number. 

Rolling her eyes, she placed her commuter card on the ticket booth which allowed her access to the train station outside. It was a relatively nice autumn day, the sky was clear and the son shone brightly but the winds were brisk, and as the woman walked she was glad she decided to bring her coat. As she neared the building of her workplace she stopped, hearing a large commotion coming from a few buildings ahead of her. 

 

Two police officers were escorting another woman outside from a taller building, two more officers followed the procession with large guns, eyeing the scene warily. The woman was handcuffed, and her arms had to be restrained from the first two cops as she kicked wildly around. She was short and chubby but seemed to posses an usually strong enough will to even attempt fleeing past the officer's grasp.

“Let me go, I’m not a fucking criminal!” She screamed, whipping her head around so violently that the parts in her long black plait were loose and coming undone, with free hairs following her movement. “I'm a scientist! I didn’t  _ kill _ anyone!” 

The police officers chose to completely ignore her, walking steadily onwards towards a large black van. When the woman realized realized that kicking wasn’t going to do anything, she went completely limp and the officers nearly fell down with the sudden influx of her weight. 

 

The woman from the train station watched the scene unfold with furrowed eyebrows, knowing that what she was seeing upset her but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. The other woman was likely recently evicted from either her apartment or job during a genetic screening. It was a common scene of the past few weeks, anyone working in the government was first, immediately being fired if they tested likely. Next was anyone who tried to apply for university, jobs, housing, anything really. Now it was anyone  _ in _ jobs, universities, over half of the country's population was being tested for dormant superhuman activity.

One of the officers noticed the woman staring, and she quickly averted her eyes, not wishing to start a fight with someone so heavily armed.

 

Her office was just around the corner and she sighed in relief seeing the glass door as she walked towards it. Entrance to the building required a keycard activation, and she quickly brought out her I.D. The beep of confirmation was pleasant as she walked through the door, and immediately the secretary looked up from the computer of his reception desk and smiled at her.

“Good morning, Nisha!” He said, his tone as bright and chipper as the weather outside, and she nodded at him. “Screenings are today, please make your way directly to the main conference room!”

 

Nisha did as she was told, stepping inside the relatively large room normally used for meetings and business deals. Today however, the long table and high end chairs surrounding it were gone, instead replaced by simple plastic chairs running along the walls. Most of the chairs were filled by people waiting for their turn to be screened. Some sat, idly thumbing through their phones, while others read from book or magazines, and a few played games on handheld devices. Nisha herself stepped inside and found herself an empty seat near the door she entered through, placing her backpack on the seat. 

 

She walked up to the far end of the room by a simple push door, signing herself in on a tablet attached to the wall.

‘ _ Welcome Kakkar, Nisha!’  _ The tablet alterted her, the message popping up on a brightly colored screen. ‘ _ You are number 37 in line, please wait until your name is called.’ _

Nisha made a face and took the little printed ticket provided to her at the top of the tablet, making her way back to her seat.

Well, at least she’d planned on there being a wait, and the newest edition of  _ Strings Monthly _ wasn’t going to read itself. It had just arrived yesterday, and she was very interested in their article on how to perfect a good vibrato. 

 

The article was shorter than Nisha has expected, but she was more surprised that when she had reached the end of it, a woman bustled out of the push door, calling out names.

“Could Nisha Kakkar and James Merritt make their way through the door, please?” The woman called, after a moderately sized list of names.

Nisha stood up, quickly stowing her magazine into her backpack and slinging it along one shoulder as she proceeded her way forward. An extremely tall and lanky man with bright red hair and similarly red glasses followed her, nervously playing with the hem of his sweater as the two of them walked through the door. Nisha recognized him, vaguely, from the more technical and coding based end of the company. She was often around that department, helping to oversee the completed or constructed physical prototypes, before they went into more commercial beta testing. He always seemed nervous, she thought, as they walked down a grey painted hallway; following signs that pointed them to their destination. But then again, Nisha herself was not much of a talker either. At the year of working in her team, all her coworkers really knew about her was her name.

  
  


The two of them quickly reached their objective destination, a moderately sized room where people in medical scrubs attended to various other people in more business casual wear sitting at quickly constructed desks. Nisha walked up to an empty desk and sat down, expecting another noticeable wait, but instead a man in a labcoat and surgical mask was over almost immediately, holding a clipboard. He looked to be about her age, and had black hair that was cut in a simple and unimpressionable style, with bright blue eyes. He looked like a douche.

 

“We’re going to need a blood, urine, and a hair sample” he said simply, his tone curt and sharp. “We will also be conducting retinal scans, if the evidence we collect is inconclusive we will furthermore take samples of your plasma. If you’re squeamish around needles we can collect a sample of your saliva,  _ please _ do not pass out.”

Nisha frowned, not entirely understanding the need for so many different types of DNA. 

“I thought urine samples were proven to be conclusive enough in most cases.” She said, and the man sighed as he flipped through his clipboard.

“You think you’re the first person to ever ask me this in the entire world?” He said, his voice showing little emotion other than annoyance. “Under contract we’re not allowed to go into detail. Are you happy?”

 

Nisha was not happy, but she knew she wasn’t going to get any better information out of the type of person he was, so she didn’t bother. Instead she carded her fingers through her black bangs, peered through the retinal scanning device provided to her, spit into a thin tube, and quietly left for the bathroom to properly collect her urine in a small plastic cup. The medically dressed man took all four without complaint or further comment, turning and leaving Nisha without any further instruction.

She looked around, maybe she could pick up what she was supposed to do next from observing the other people surrounding her. The man from earlier, James, caught her eye and gave her a small and nervous smile. She smiled back, the corners of her mouth tilting upward ever so slightly. Sorry James, that’s the best you’re going to get.

 

He averted his eyes, focusing them on his fingers, which were picking at the skin around his thumb. Nisha wondered idly if she would be able to read the rest of her magazine, she has saw on the cover there was some sheet music sample of a modern sonata inside this month’s issue, and she was itching to try it out on her own. As she was considering the logistics of whether it would be socially polite to start reading her magazine in this particular situation or not, the apathetic man came back up to her desk.

 

He dropped, without comment, a single piece of paper onto her desk. Nisha eyed him warily as she picked up the sheet, nervously unfolding it.

There was no letter, no list of her genetic background, nothing special. All that was printed simply on the page was a long bout of technical jargon, and then at the end, 

‘ _ Positive. 87% likely’. _

 

Nisha felt her blood run white cold as she stared at the simple letters on the page, her heart pounding and mind racing. Her breathing was becoming short as her mind caught up with what was actually happening to her.

_ Eighty-seven percent??  _

How was she still here, completely unchanged and normal, if her personal likelihood was that high? How had she gone, through  _ twenty four years _ of life never never having anything  _ slightly _ supernatural happen to her? Sure, there was always a chance that the screenings were going to go wrong, test someone positive when they had no actually mutation or superhuman tendencies, but with modern day advancements in tests those chances were slim to none. 

 

She hadn’t realized her hands were shaking until she tried to set the paper down on the smooth surface of the desk and noticed a visible tremor. The apathetic man simply sighed, ripping the paper from Nisha’s hands and quickly eyeing over the printed test results. He spared one second to glance away from the paper and look her up and down, raising an eyebrow in a very unbelieving expression. When he turned his eyes back to the paper he pulled a walkie talkie out of his pocket and began speaking into it.

 

Nisha felt like she was going to throw up.

If this was true, and she was as likely as the results said she was, what were they going to do with her? She had heard rumors, of people being locked up in prison, or forced into the military, but no one really knew how anyone got from point a of being tested, to point c of removal from society. What was point b?

 

She crouched around herself, clutching at the sides of her jacket as a way to find grounding as she took in shaky breaths. She closed her eyes, focusing simply on the way the ribbed fabric of the bottom seam of her hoodie felt under her fingers. She didn't realize how long she was sitting there, until she felt hands try to lift her up by her arms. She jolted it of her chair immediately, her heart racing, this time with adrenaline. A police officer stood, generally looking unimpressed. She seemed like she had done this several times before. 

 

“Please, ma’am” the officer said. “We’re going to need you to come with us.”

Nisha looked up at the cop before closing her eyes again, dragging her hand down her face. Finally she sighed, standing up. “Alright” she replied. “I’ll come with you.”

 

She expected to be dragged away to some sort of lab in a location she wasn’t familiar with. She even expected to be transported in a van with a few other unfortunate souls, all trying to avoid eye contact with each other as awkward silence moved on for decades. Or so it felt.

What she didn’t expect was the handcuffs. 

“Wha- I don’t..” She sputtered as soon as the cold metal was clamped around her wrists. She turned them over almost out of reflex, immediately inspecting her new binds. These handcuffs specifically were heavier than expected, and Nisha noticed what looked like a small….motherboard? Along the sides.

“It’s just a cautionary measure, ma’am.” The police officer said. Her tone was not unkind, but it wasn’t particularly compassionate either. Nisha realized this was the moment she went from being a person, to a simple number, or problem for someone else to deal with. 

 

She hadn’t expected to be all but dragged into a small room, placed in a small chair and have a mask pulled over her nose. 

“What is this?” She asked, her voice gone brittle and her accent unknowingly thickening with fear. Her heart had been racing all throughout the van ride as she sat in silence and tried to ground herself. Having so many strangers around helped, in a strange way. It gave her a reason to try and calm down, to put on an impassive and nearly impossible to read mask.

Now however; her heart was pounding so fast she felt like her chest was either going to cave in or explode. It could leave, free itself from her confining skin and rib cage, and Nisha would be none the wiser. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to her today. Strong arms held down her thin and lanky ones, even though she knew struggle was useless. 

If these people were going to kill her, then this is the way she was going to go.

 

She did allow herself one last freedom, turning her head around to survey the space she was going to be killed in.

The room was dark, and incredibly bare. Nisha vaguely noticed walls covered in some sort of dark gray paint, but it could honestly be any color. A single very warm colored light was the only thing illuminating the room, positioned above Nisha’s chair in the vein of those interrogation scenes in spy movies she would watch sometimes because they were the only thing on tv and she liked having something to focus on as she sat and ate dinner. There wasn’t any sort of table, to divide the interrogator and interrogated in this room, however. Just a light and a chair, which, when Nisha quickly turned her head to inspect it further, was connected to vaguely medical looking equipment. The mask around Nisha’s nose was connected to several tubes that ran from the side of the mask, down to several gas tanks duct taped to the back of the chair.

 

Someone behind the chair turned a nozze on the top of the tanks, and Nisha heard a slight hiss sound from behind her. Frantically she began to wiggle in a last ditch effort to escape, not really knowing why. Even if she was able to escape her captors grasp, she still would have to make it past the door she was rushed through, along the hallway she was pushed down, and through the entrance she didn’t have enough time to really process. Escape was as implausible as there being some heroic rescue that swept through, saving her valiantly from the clutches of her captors. Of course Nisha knew neither was going to happen. This wasn’t a fairy tale, this was real life. Grand gestures of heroism didn’t exist.

Sure enough the strong hands were holding her more forcefully now, with a pressure so immense that her corpse would surely be bruised tomorrow, if not within a few hours. Recognizing the ineffectual actions of freedom Nisha accepted her face, stilling and closing her eyes as she breathed in an odorless and unknown gas and simply waited for the rest to come.

 

‘ _ This is what you always wanted, isn’t it?’  _ An undisclosed voice asked in her head, it's sound so ephemeral it was as if there was several different voices, all whispering together and in near perfect union. ‘ _ A good death?’ _

Nisha’s heart was stilling now, and in her semi-delirious state she could almost see in the darkness of her vision, a long meandering line. It was bright, blinding white and thick. Thinner lines diverged off of it, reaching off into the black expanse, little hands ending the stroke. They grabbed at pieces of the darkness as if it were simply grass on a hill and curved their short fingers into the nothingness, using the grip to pull the large line slowly, slowly, slowly, more and more forward. As they moved closer, the white began to expand, sluggishly overtaking the darkness of Nisha’s mind. As each arm moved itself forward she could hear it quietly moan with the effort of its daunting task. Combined together, the moans created a dissonant chorus, every second becoming louder and louder as they fulfilled their task.

‘ _ Fear not, my love”  _ the mysterious voice (voices?) said, above the chanting of the arms. The white was beginning to overwhelm the black now, so intense, so strong that Nisha could almost feel her eyes burning, as if she was both staring directly into the rays of the sun and having her eyes pressed deeply at the same time. “ _ I have bigger things for you yet.” _

 

With that, the white completely overtook the darkness, and Nisha was gone


	2. Elegy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This whole situation made her wish she paid more attention to her mother’s religious lessons as a kid. She forced her eyes open more, just a hair, and shakily lifted up her hand in front of her face."
> 
>  
> 
> In which the rest of the main cast is announced, and everyone generally snarks at each other for a while.

Cool water flowed  _ through  _ her veins, as if someone had placed a cooling cloth on the inside of her body, comforting her nerves and muscle and bones rather than her skin. It was an odd sensation, she couldn’t entirely place a finger on her opinions on it. The coolness definitely didn’t feel  _ bad _ , but it was also uncomfortable as a whole new sensory experience she had never lived through before, let alone even considered a possible feeling she was ever going to undergo in her life.

 

Wait.

She was supposed to be  _ dead _ .

 

Nisha cracked open her eyes, suddenly hit by a bright, white colored light, which was confusing for many reasons. First things first, she was supposed to be  _ dead _ , she thought she  _ died _ . She didn’t go to Heaven or meet Jesus but she just assumed that was because she didn’t really believe in all that anyway, was this reincarnation? Was she going to find herself transformed into a cat or a monkey? She obviously had eyes so it definitely wasn’t anything inanimate. This whole situation made her wish she paid more attention to her mother’s religious lessons as a kid. She forced her eyes open more, just a hair, and shakily lifted up her hand in front of her face.

Still the same brown, still the same Nisha.

 

She closed her eyes again, even the simple movement of not completely opening them wore her out. Resting her hand in her chest, she tried to wake her still groggy, still out of it brain up by considering what the hell just happened to her. She obviously hadn’t died, at least not completely. The last thing she really remembered was breathing in that unfamiliar gas, and then passing out. What had happened after was…...obviously some sort of hallucination, possibly a really bad drug trip? She wasn’t sure, she hadn’t really ever had previous experience with drugs, or mysterious gases, or almost dying. 

Still, none of this made any sense. There probably was some perfectly rational explanation that Nisha was completely unaware of. Maybe those conspiracy theories all about  _ the government _ and  _ testing _ were onto something, maybe-

 

Her internal monologue was cut short by a soft gasp. 

She opened her eyes and instead of immediately confronting the harsh and far too bright light from before, she was instead greeted with a pair of very wide light blue eyes.

Jumping back, she screamed. Probably far louder than was necessary in the situation and _definitely_ was too loud for someone with a perfectly cultivated calm demeanor as herself. Her heart, just barely recovered from all the stress and anxiety of earlier (yesterday? Last week? Last month? Last year? Who _knows_ how long she’d been out) was beginning to beat frantically again and she took in short, labored breaths.

 

The owner of the bright blue eyes was a young woman, about Nisha’s age. She had thick curly brown hair that was pulled away into a ponytail, although several strands seemed to have come loose and were flying off in twists around her face. She was also wearing medical scrubs, which was odd, and simple white shoes. Nisha could tell that she was very, very pretty. 

Her bright blue eyes were under eyebrows downturned into a very confused expression and Nisha vaguely wondered if this blue eyed woman had been watching her since she'd passed out. 

The woman was carefully watching Nisha’s face, likely trying to figure her out and watch for a possible type of identification, or maybe even watching for signs of a planned escape. Then she glanced down to Nisha’s hips and screamed.

 

“ _ A-aaaaleeeeeex? _ I need you in here!” She yelled, not moving or allowing a single eye to move off of Nisha’s defensive position. 

Nisha felt white-cold fear sweep through her body, immediately paranoid. Did this woman notice something she wasn't supposed to? Nisha let her eyes move down her body, resting by her hips in confusion. Everything seemed normal, Nisha had never been the most curvy person in the world and most of her bodily features were covered by her simple blue hoodie, but she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. 

Then she saw a wisp of green smoke curve out from the side of her body. 

 

Nisha turned her eyes slightly to the left, landing them on her hands. The green mist was surrounding them, and upon further inspection it even seemed to be  _ originating  _ from her hands, as incredibly impossible as that seemed. The mist flowed out about five centimeters away from her fingers, and the closer she lead her meandering eyes down to her palm, she realized that the closer to the center of her palm the darker the mist actually became. At its farthest point it was was very light green, and quite transparent but even at the tips of her fingers it had already become significantly darker and much more opaque. At her palms it was so dark that it was nearly black, and at first Nisha thought she saw little white specs floating through the general mass, but upon second glance she realized that she was looking at the bones of her hand. 

 

Now it was Nisha's turn to scream yet again, backing herself up against the wall as she yelled. She waved her hand in the air around her in an attempt to maybe make the most subside? But no dice, it stayed simply around her hands. Vaguely, in the background, she heard footsteps approaching the small room she was in and she looked up from her hands to see a man quickly trying to estimate the scene, confusion written all over his face.

 

He was a bit shorter than Nisha and much more stockily built. In stark contrast to the medical scrubs of the other woman, this man seemed to be dressed in business casual attire. He had on a blue button down shirt that was rolled up to his elbows, as well as sharp looking grey trousers, and nice shoes. He looked Nisha up and down, obviously sizing her up. His face was pulled into a frown and his left hand rested on his goatee.

“What the hell is this?” 

 

The other woman turned her eyes from Nisha for the first time in ten minutes, looking at the man instead. 

“I was monitoring her vital signs for a while, not quite keeping her alive, but mostly making sure she was going alright. James told me he felt a spike in brain activity so I went to investigate and found her heart beating much more rapidly. I considered-”

 

“I don’t really care about that.” The man, Alex (?). Cut her off. “I’m more concerned about  _ those _ .” He finished gesturing to Nisha’s hands.

Having been given a moment to calm herself down, Nisha examined her hands once more. Experimentally she moved them, watching the bony bits as she flexed her fingers into fists. The green mist had subsided, just a bit, and watching her clasped bones Nisha considered something. Taking in a shaky breath she focused on calming herself down, but more importantly imagining the mist slowly disappear from her hand and collecting back into her body.

Sure enough, when she looked back down at her hands the mist was gone. 

 

When she raised her head back up to the others in the room the two others were definitely calmer, so that was good at least. The woman seemed apprehensive, still studying Nisha with a careful eye. Her brown eyebrows furrowed as her blue eyes kept looking Nisha up and down, the whole ordeal was definitely cementing the over woman’s feeling like she was in a movie. She almost (or actually did) die and now apparently had weird anime powers for christ’s sake! 

Alex was much more moved by the mist’s sudden disappearance, putting a friendly and unassuming smile on his face. He clapped his hands together as he smiled and Nisha noticed him take a step backwards, towards the door.

“Well! Now  _ that’s _ settled!” He said brightly, turning towards the other woman in the room. “Should we introduce her to the others?”

 

“I-I still need to check some of her vital signs and see if she’s up to even standing around for this long.” The woman said at about the same time Nisha remarked “There are  _ others?!” _

 

Both the mystery woman and Alex turned towards Nisha immediately in shock. She half expected one of them to gasp and point in her direction uttering ‘ _ she can speak!’ _ Or something similarly corny out of a low budget black and white sci-fi film. Again, that would only reinforce the surreal feeling she was currently experiencing and with the type of day she was having right now? She probably wouldn’t even be thrown off one bit.

Instead Alex extended his unassuming smile towards her.

“Of course! There’s five of us, we were really shocked to find you since this place is kind of deserted. Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine” Nisha replied in an offhand and distracted manner as she tried to look through the door into where she assumed the other three group members were. Supposedly.

 

Alex seemed nice enough, Nisha would definitely give him credit for that. He seemed like the type of guy that carefully constructed himself in a way that was charismatic and unobtrusive, which she wasn’t particularly  _ against _ but charismatic types are always by definition friendly; and she was not in the mood to make friends. 

Alex’s face fell a little bit at the corners as soon as Nisha brushed him off. Good, maybe he’d leave her alone then. 

He said the facility was deserted but there surely had to be a simple way out. Even if  _ every _ common entrance and exit was locked, emergency exits exist. The ragtag group of Alex and his friends probably were just held up because they wanted to make friends with each other and they were concerned about Nisha’s well being right? There definitely wasn’t any other reason for six people to be in a building together for an inexplicable amount of time, and they  _ definitely  _ were not trapped together inside this place. Nope. 

The rational scientist in Nisha’s head knew that wasn’t true, but she had to believe that it was, the alternative made her terrified and she was  _ not _ going to let these bozos know she was scared.

 

As soon as she tried to make a few steps in the door’s direction she immediately felt her legs wobble like jelly, and then proceed to completely give out on her which made for a fitting dramatic exit. The mystery woman was at Nisha’s side in an instant, draping Nisha’s arm around her neck for support.

“ _ No! _ See? Alex this is exactly what I was t-talking about!” She said, scolding the man in question with a quick and fervent frown. If looks could kill Alex would be stuck in a room on house arrest. Or maybe it would be the mystery woman serving her life sentence since she killed Alex with her look in this metaphor? That definitely wasn’t nearly as poetic that’s for sure.

“Are y-you alright?” The woman asked, cutting Nisha out of her trance and back into the real world.

 

“Hm?” Nisha said, out of reflex more than anything. “I’m  _ fine _ .” She finished, trying to shrug the mystery woman off of her, who was having none of it. She simply held on harder, wrapping her arm around Nisha’s waist and effectively confining her. 

“You’re really not” she said plainly, pulling a small torch from the pockets of her scrubs. She turned the torch on, bringing the thin beam of light to Nisha’s face. 

“Please follow the light with your eyes” she said, her statement in no way a request. Nisha complied as she was told, her eyes mimicking the light’s movement from right to left. Having finished the exam with no hesitations the other woman seemed satisfied, clicking her torch off and setting it back where it belongs in her pocket. 

 

“W-well, you seem to be tracking me alright” she said with a small, and very tired smile. “You should be f-fine to talk with the others and it might even be good for you, just n-no heavy physical activity right now, okay?”

Nisha winced. “Is it mandatory? The socialization?”

The other woman looked up at Alex for a moment, her face asking more of a question than her mouth needed to. Alex himself sighed, rubbing his palm against his face.

“ _ Yes  _ it’s mandatory, we’re stuck in here we might as well get to know each other.”

 

Nisha felt a pit in her stomach. The last thing she wanted to do right now was  _ socialize _ with a bunch of people she didn’t  _ know.  _ They could all be mentalists, prying into her mind, collecting her darkest fears and secrets for their nefarious purposes. That’s what the anti-superhuman pamphlets told her at least. In reality they were all probably just a bunch of regular human beings all stuck together indefinitely. 

“It’s not that bad” Alex said, causing Nisha too look up at him with an unamused scowl. He just smiled and ignored her unimpressed expression. “Don’t be like that, they’re nice people!”

 

Just then a woman leaned in through the door. “Hey Finley, are you done? Sam’s getting  _ real _ frustrated ‘cause he can’t understand anyone.”

Nisha stared at the new woman, both her eyebrows raised. She was a bit shorter than Nisha and much chubbier with a long black braid that was currently swept over her shoulder; and was exactly the same woman Nisha had saw being taken by police the other day (possibly, she was still a little unsure of Time right now). Small world. 

 

Mystery brown haired woman-  _ Finley-  _ considered her patient a moment with pursed lips and hands rested on her hips before she nodded finally. 

“I think you’re fine.” She told Nisha who nodded and shakily stood up again. She might as well just face it and socialize with the group members in the other room. 

Alex was more than willing to help walk her through the small room she was holed up in to the larger foyer. It wasn’t an impressive room by any means, plain grey colored paper covered the walls which were also devoid of any decoration at all. Most likely it was some sort of reception area, in its previous life. There was three entrances, including the one Nisha just walked out of. Another lead down what seemed to be a dark hallway-- it was hard to tell. The fluorescent lights above only illuminated the room she was currently in. The third entrance was blocked by a very thick grey door, a thick grey keypad to match it. A man sat in front of it, he was tall and very lanky, his limbs seemed impossibly folded. He gave Nisha little mind, only glancing up for a minute when she entered the room, green eyes catching brown, before he blushed a little and resumed frowning down at a notebook in his lap. Nisha stared at him for a moment trying to figure out where she knew him from, before she realized he was the man-- Jim? Jake?  _ James! _ Who was transported from her old workplace. 

 

Not that she was interested in talking with him or anything, plus he seemed awfully invested in whatever it was he was doing with that notebook. 

“Holy shit she’s alive!”

Nisha turned towards the sound of the voice. It came from a small man, much shorter than everyone else. His skin was pale and just sort of blended in with his sandy brown hair and grey eyes. He wore a T-shirt advertising “Some Band” with jeans and simple trackers, the entire look a complete distinction from the medical scrubs and or business casual wear of the other group members. Finally someone dressed  _ normally.  _

 

Finley came and stood next to him and immediately started moving her hands and fingers in gestures that Nisha did not recognize, but could tell were purposeful. The man nodded along, gesturing his own responses and questions and Nisha just stood there, silently watching their conversation. She wished she knew what they were saying, she had learned a few BSL signs in primary school, but never enough to hold a conversation. Plus that wouldn’t even be applicable here, presumably. The short man had two blue hearing aids on both his ears, and added with the signing Nisha figured it was probably correct to assume that he was, at least, hard of hearing. 

“Do you feel alright?” He asked her, making her look up for her position on the floor she had been staring at while she thought. 

“I feel fine. Seriously why does everyone keep asking me that?”

 

The man gave her a slightly confused look and turned to Finley, who relaid Nisha’s response.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe because we thought you died and didn’t want to deal with disposing a corpse?” He said without malice in his voice. Instead he smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Sam by the way.”

Nisha smiled in spite of herself, Sam’s crooked smile was weirdly infectious. “I’m Nisha. Are you deaf?”

 

As soon as they shook hands Sam grinned even wider. “Sure am! This is great!” He said excitedly. “Now that we know each other's names, it means we’re friends now!”

Nisha raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how friendship works.”

“Well I’m pretty sure it is, who is right? No one knows.”

“There  _ has  _ to be some official guideline to friendship based on culture. There’s no way knowing someone’s name detonates friendship.”

“No one knows.”

Finley giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand and Nisha turned her amused raised eyebrow based expression onto her instead. She simply shrugged. 

 

Nisha was about to pull out her phone and search up wether or not simply knowing someone’s name made them your friend, just to prove Sam wrong, when Alex cleared his throat. 

“Attention! Attention! Everyone!” 

Every person present, excluding Sam, who Finley politely nudged and pointed to Alex’s direction, looked up. 

“Great! Now that we’re all together now-“ at this he gestured towards Nisha and smiled warmly, who, uncomfortable with the attention, awardly put her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. “-And until James figures how to get us out of here, I figure me might as well get to know each other better!”

 

Nisha immediately shot her hand up. 

“Is it mandatory?”

Alex looked like he aged five years in a couple of minutes. “I’m not going to  _ force  _ you to talk to anyone, of course-”

Nisha was already gone, sitting down next to Sam, who laughed lightly at her, and directing her attention elsewhere. 

 

The woman with the black plait had her arms crossed, and was eyeing Nisha warily. She radiated some sort of  _ force _ that Nisha couldn’t really put a finger on. It was like tiny little hands were coming off of the woman, poking, prodding, and entering their way through Nisha’s being—her life force. She found the feeling entirely unpleasant, as if she were a bug under a microscope, or a prisoner in interrogation. She locked eyes with the woman, giving a small look that could be loosely translated to ‘ _ what gives?’ _ But the woman simply rolled her eyes and turned away from Nisha to the other half of the room. 

“Alex do I have to stand next to the new girl? She gives me a bad feeling.”

 

Alex’s face immediately gained five more years.  “Listen guys, we’re not that unlike each other-”

“We’re not so different you and I.” The woman with the plait cut Alex off. Nisha had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, trying her best to look cool and collected while Alex put both his palms over his eyes and muttered under his breath in what sounded like Spanish.

“E-everyone could go around and introduce themselves; name, uh, previous occupation…..power. Th-that sort of thing?” Finley suggested, making Alex brighten considerably; taking his hands off of his eyes and gesturing them towards Finley’s direction.

“Great idea! Who wants to start?”

 

Everyone stayed quiet, staring at the floor. Sam being the only exception, kept jumping glances from Alex to Finley. After what felt like way longer than it actually was, he shrugged.

“I’ll go first.”

Alex smiled at him gratefully, placing his hands into the pockets of his Khakis (ew). He glanced around the room for a moment before nodding to himself as he spotted a few fold up chairs. He politely grabbed a few, setting them down in a semicircle by where Sam was already seated.

“So, my legal name is Samuel Hewett but if anyone actually calls me that I’m going to have to sue for slander” Sam started out and Nisha raised her hand. 

“Can I call you Sammy?” She asked, her face blank but sarcastic.

“Absolutely not I am in no way a porn star thank you very much.” Sam responded promptly, folding his hands together and placing them on top of his leg in a very professional looking way. “I used to work as a graphic designer I guess, that’s what my degree is in at least. And I can do this-!”

 

He dug a hand into the pocket of his blue jeans, excitedly pulling out a little rubber bouncy ball, the kind you can get for 25¢ at a local restaurant. 

“Why do you own that and actually, better question, why was it in your pocket?” Black plait woman asked. Sam simply winked at her and she nodded, accepting her defeat. 

He placed the ball in his palm and then placed his other hand a few centimeters on top of it, giving it enough space that there was a gap between the top hand and the ball. Then a small gust of light colored wind appeared, just in between his hands. The ball moved quickly around in a circle, tracing the shape around his bottom palm. 

Sam turned from concentrating on his trick to grin widely at the group.“Isn’t this cool?” He said. “It’s just like in Avatar!”

Even James was watching, abandoning his notebook onto the floor. Finley gave Sam a polite smile which only made him beam wider.

“Really?” Black plait woman spoke up. “You can do magic air shit now and you decide to show it off by doing  _ that _ ?”

Sam ceased the airflow from his hands, catching the ball and returning it to his pockets. 

“I don’t wanna hurt anybody.” He said, simply. “I just wanted to show off what I can do now. If I have to deal with feeling every time someone takes a breath, I should at least be able to do cool stuff.”

“Can you really do that?” Nisha asked. “Feel when we breathe?”

Sam nodded. “That and any changes in air pressure or wind. Thankfully I’ve been in this place a couple of days, when I first got my powers I was so sensitive I could hardly sit up without having a headache.”

 

_ ‘A couple of days?’ _ How long had Nisha been out?

 

“Well I’m glad you’re well adjusted now.” Alex said diplomatically. Nisha saw black plait woman roll her eyes, and apparently Alex saw too because he put his hands on his hips, giving the woman an unimpressed expression. 

“Oh? Are you interested Carolyne? Would you like to go next?”

Carolyne rolled her eyes again but signed the sigh of defeat. “ _ Fine _ ” I’ll introduce myself next or whatever.”

 

She shifted in her seat, crossing her legs. “My name is Carolyne Yuan, I used to work as a botanist and I’m literally the coolest person in this room.”

“ _ That’s  _ debatable-“ Sam started but she cut him off.

“Nice try but no. Can anyone else here do this?” With that she lazily lifted her index finger, not bothering to move the rest of her hand. Immediately everyone’s right arm shot up, without control from its actual owner. Alex looked like he had been through this before, glowering at Carolyne under furrowed eyebrows. 

 

“Can you  _ please _ not do this?” He asked. “You can just  _ tell  _ people.”

Carolyne considered that, her finger tapping her chin in thought. She looked to the ceiling, not letting up the control on everyone’s arms. Nisha wished she would let up soon, her arm was starting to get sore. Finally Carolyne looked back to Alex, who’s glare had gone from unimpressed to absolutely murderous. 

“Hmm,  _ no _ . This is way more fun.” She yawned, making an extended show of it, her mouth going wide and her hand daintily covering it. Finally she flicked her index finger down, all the arms falling down with it. Nisha joined Alex in glaring at Carolyne, rubbing her sore arm as she glared. 

 

“Are you taking over our brains?” Finley asked, slightly worrying on her bottom lip. She was definitely eyeing Carolyne with much more suspicion than before, everyone was. Mind readers were not to be trusted, pretty much every person on the planet knew that. “Or are you c-controlling our muscle mass or something?” 

“Neither.” Carolyne replied. “My current hypothesis is that I’m connecting with and manipulating your life force, if you will. There’s been superhumans reported to do this before, although it’s generally uncommon.”

“You seem to know a lot about this” Alex said, almost impressed. Carolyne scoffed at him. 

“My thesis was in the superhuman virus and its effect on the Pacific Northwest and it’s natural species. I  _ should  _ know a thing or too. Anyway as I was saying, every living organism in the cognitive world radiates off a sort of…...aura I guess.”

 

“Wow that’s my favorite open mic night poem” Sam quipped and Carolyne rolled her eyes at him. 

“Oh  _ haha  _ very funny, next Groucho Marx over here folks.”

Sam took a little bow. “Thank you, thank you. I’m here all night.”

“I can feel this aura/sense/whatever, and manipulate it to do as I wish” Carolyne continued, ignoring him. “I can feel it coming off of all of you. Everyone that is, except for-“ She looked around and pointed directly at Nisha. “-Her.”

Nisha frowned, still rubbing her arm. That strange feeling from earlier, like Carolyne was sending out arms to poke and prod her, was back not only in full force, but stronger than ever. This time it felt like the little arms were physically  _ ripping Nisha apart.  _ She winced as she felt the sensation of— _ something _ — peeling away at her skin and muscle and entering her body. It didn’t hurt, as physical as it felt. Instead it felt  _ invasive _ like her entire sense of being was being examined and torn a part. Like how you fling the contents of a dresser apart with reckless abandon when you can’t find something and you’re running late. 

If Carolyne noticed how Nisha was squirming, she made no notice of it, staring straight at Nisha with narrowed eyes, her gaze as pervasive as the strange sensation she was sending off. Her arm was still outstretched, pointing at Nisha as they looked each other in the eyes, an inescapable stalemate. 

 

Alex was the first person to break their contact. 

“Uh, are you alright over there?”

Carolyne quickly snapped back into the real world, her arm dropping with graceful ease. “Hm? Oh yeah, of course.  _ I’m  _ perfectly fine, don’t know about  _ this girl _ though-“

“Yes well I’m sure she appreciates your concern. “ Alex said quickly, effectively cutting her off. Despite being pretty annoyed by his constructed personality that seemed to just be about saving face, Nisha was grateful for him ending Carolyne’s sentence. She was pretty sure that wasn’t going to end well. 

“I was  _ going _ to say” Carolyne grumped. “That she’s the only person here that doesn’t give off a sense of being alive, it’s actually the opposite. Everything radiating from her tells me she’s dead. But yet I can still manipulate her being, and she’s still breathing and walking around.”

_ Everyone _ was analyzing Nisha now, even James from his little corner (who she had nearly forgotten was there) and she didn’t like the attention. She squirmed more, moving the ends of her hoodie sleeves so that they covered her hands, also looking down and away. She was about to cover her face with her actual hood when she felt a hand softly touch her arm. 

“It’s okay.” Sam said. We’re all trying to understand this together.”

Nisha took a deep breath, looking back into Carolyne’s eyes. 

“My name is Nisha Kakkar, not  _ her _ , not in that tone of voice. My hands glow green and I don’t know why, I  _ felt myself die _ yet still I’m here, I don’t know why that that is either. Leave me alone.” Every word she said was careful and measured, her voice low and gritty. 

 

“Maybe we’re in purgatory?” Sam offered. 

“I don’t believe in that.” Both Nisha and Finley replied at the exact same time. They looked each other in the eye with surprise and Finley blushed, looking down.

“We don’t understand any more than you do” Alec said, his voice calm and kind. “You know that right?”

Nisha didn’t respond, choosing to look down and bite the inside of her cheek. So much had gone on in a short amount of time, she could barely process what was happening. Plus she didn’t trust any of these clowns with any personal information whatsoever. Sam seemed alright, but no one else. Alex sighed and Nisha looked up to see that old and tired expression creep back on his face. “I know things are confusing and scary for you right now, hell I’m terrified. But if it wasn’t for James and Finley, you wouldn’t be here right now. Not that you owe them anything…...but no one here is out to get you.” 

Nisha raised an eyebrow with an unimpressed expression and looked pointedly at Carolyne. 

Alex ran his fingers through his hair. “If Carolyne does anything, Which she  _ won’t,  _ I will protect you.”

Nisha snorted. “Yeah? What can you do?”

“Time travel.” Alex replied dramatically. “For about ten minutes.” 

Nisha considered that. She had heard of superhumans who could time travel before, although they were few and far between. Always a huge asset in any team, the government was constantly on the prowl for them. She felt a pang of empathy- very  _ slight _ empathy- for him. Government work was hard, barely paid, and often cruel. As soon as they got out of here, if Alex somehow couldn’t find an agency to represent him, he was looking towards a very miserable future.

 

“You said Finley and James  _ specifically  _ helped me, what do they do?” She asked glancing to Finley, who was staring at her shoes which were tapping a distinctive pattern on the floor, and James who was carefully examining everyone from his thick rimmed glasses.

“Ah! Well Finley here is a healer, and James is…...uh--a mind reader.” Alex stammered out, particularly spitting out the last half of that sentence with a lot less grace and gravitas then he normally commanded.

 

Nisha immediately felt her blood run cold. 

Most people were, at the least, wary of the majority of superhumans. Someone who can make tornadoes spontaneously appear was certainly something to be concerned with. Nisha didn’t  _ agree _ with the strict regulations and propaganda against them, she certainly understood what it was like to be someone people feared for simply existing, but she could also understand why people would be nervous.  _ Mind readers  _ though, they scared  _ everyone. _ Someone with unexplainable amounts of power (research surrounding them was few and far between) that could pry into your deepest psyche, come away with all your secrets, even  _ manipulate the way you thought forever _ and you would be none the wiser. Rumors said most of them went insane, unable to deal with their power, or got violent. Most of the time it wasn’t even the power that people were most afraid of, it was the fact that they could hide.

 

When Nisha looked over at James, though, all she saw was a man folded up in the corner, making himself as small as possible. Every few moments he would wince, look around concerned, or fold in on himself more. He seemed so terrified.

“James here could hear your brain working as we were trying to find an exit” Alex explained. “He  _ insisted _ we find you, wouldn’t let us get a move on until we did. Then he said he thought he might be able to get us out of here, isn’t that right?”

 

“I-I-I don’t know” James started; his voice shaky, warbling, and surprisingly his voice underlined with a relatively strong Scottish accent. “The passcode to this door--- i-it’s supposed to be read via a palm but no matter what I do, h-how much I crack, nothing seems to work. It’s like...it’s like its made to specifically c-counteract superhuman DNA or something…..I th-think we’re stuck in here-”

 

A light thudding noise occurred, making James cut himself off. It sounded like shoes hitting the floor, like someone landing to the ground after a fall. James slowly turned towards the noise, his eyes the size of dinner plates, his chest heaving erratically up and down.

 

“I think I can help you with that.” A new voice  cut out through the sudden silence as everyone turned in unison.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow did not expect such a big interest in my story here (as in, I expected exactly zero people to read this). Anyway I've been regularly posting bits on Tapas but I'll upload whole chapters here when I finish them. I'm almost done with chapter three right now, so whenever it finishes up I'll bring it up here.   
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Sempre Piu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It’s amazing how much can happen in the span of a couple seconds."
> 
> More characters introduced! Action scenes! Monsters! Everything and more here get it fresh folks ! ! !

It’s amazing how much can happen in the span of a couple seconds. 

If her life was a movie, Nisha could just press pause at this bit and count exactly how many things happened, and how many seconds they happened in.

  1. A new person suddenly appeared. 
  2. Sudden appearance of this new person lead both Sam to jump and clutch his chest as he tried to breathe, and James to start sputtering incoherent nonsense.
  3. Finley rushed to Sam’s side, nervously checking him out while he kept shaking his head and pushing her off him with his arm.
  4. After taking about half a second to register James’ rambling, Carolyne immediately started yelling.
  5. After hearing James’ muttering, and Carolyne’s yelling _Alex_ started yelling.



 

Because her life was not a movie, Nisha didn’t have the availability to pause and try and process through her own time what the hell just happened. Instead she jumped when she heard the new mysterious arrivor, and just sort of stood awkwardly when everyone started yelling, her head moving back and forth between people like the spectators in a tennis match.

“Hey that’s a cool little trick!” The mysterious person said, forcing Nisha to turn and focus her attention on her.

She looked young, around sixteen or seventeen? Definitely a teenager, and was wearing typical teen clothes; a white shirt that slumped off her shoulder revealing a green tank top underneath, blue jeans ripped at the knees, and orange and white striped trainers. She had dark brown hair with side-swept bangs that fell to her shoulders, and her skin was a fair bit lighter than Nisha’s. All around the type of person Nisha herself was horribly out of touch with. When the girl saw Nisha’s look of confusion, she pointed down to her hands.

“I’ve seen a lot, but nothing quite like that!”

 

Nisha looked down at her hands, which had gained their now becoming increasingly familiar green mist. Maybe the way she was producing it was involuntarily through her emotions? Before she could try and dispel it again like she had done earlier, she felt the sudden urge of something locking up her body against her will. She couldn’t move her arms or legs, but apparently her neck was fine. With a jolt, she looked immediately to Carolyne, who had her arms outstretched and was giving the entire room a death glare. A quick look around confirmed that everyone else was simiaraily frozen. The shock of it all kept the whole space silent, but expressions ranged from furious (Alex), to a little vexed but ultimately worried (Finley), to positively entertained (mystery girl).

 

“Listen!” Carolyne shouted, her voice containing nothing but pure authority. “I don’t know  _ what _ just happened, or who  _ you _ are-” (cue a pause to look quickly at mystery girl) “but I’m tired and hungry and filled with raw power I didn’t have before. I demand explanations and a way out of here- I’m a scientist damn it! I want the truth!” 

As she spoke, her voice quavered, and she closed her eyes for a second, furrowing her brows in concentration. For that brief moment, Nisha felt herself gain control over her own body, until Carolyne opened her eyes again. Still, the brief stint (or maybe the taxation of controlling six people at once) was too much for Carolyne, who let out a frustrated grunt. With that, the control was released back to everyone’s own bodies-- the almost tactile tension disappearing as soon as she released command.

She let out a brief yell, pushing her hands up from her face into her hair.

“ _ Augh _ ! Useless-ass body!”

 

“Whoa lady, calm down.” Mystery girl said, sticking her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “I get that you're like, freaking out or whatever, but like don’t shoot the messenger. I just need to go grab someone.”

Carolyne looked up, opening her mouth to answer but before she could, the girl jumped up and disappeared into thin air just like how she came. 

 

One, two, three beats passed until Sam spoke up.

“Does anyone want to tell me what just happened?”

 

Carolyne blinked at him. 

“You- you didn’t hear my speech? I had a whole big dramatic thing going, almost a monologue but not quite?”

Sam looked to Finley with a start, who began moving her hands in motions more jolted than Nisha had seen her move them before. Finley seemed practiced in sign language, before everyone started yelling her movements were fluid and while Nisha could not comprehend the actual words, she could see a confident rhythm in them. Now however they were more choppy, Finley seemed less confident in what she was saying. Or was more flustered. Hard to tell.

When Finley ceased signing Sam sighed, rolling his eyes and gestured wilding around himself. 

“You keep ignoring me but I’ve been saying the lighting in here sucks! I can hardly  _ see _ anything, or read anyone’s lips!”

 

Nisha braced herself for more yelling from Carolyne (who was starting to strike her as an abrasive person, always ready to fight) but instead she simply sat herself down on the floor placing her head in her hands. 

“I’m so tired guys.”

Alex glanced around the room, his eyes lingering for a moment where that girl disappeared before his gaze turned soft. He walked over to Carolyne, kneeling and placed his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off, slowly starting to stand again. Nisha frowned to herself as the light touches of a fatigue migraine were starting to appear. All this dying, being around people, jumping at sudden noises was really starting to wear on her. She rubbed at her forehead lightly, hoping the preoccupation with Carolyne would divert prying eyes. The first thing she wanted was to lay in a soft bed, the last thing she wanted was for anyone to pay her any mind. 

 

As suddenly as the first time, the small room was filled with the  _ thud  _ of shoes hitting the floor, this time much louder than before. When Nisha jumped, she saw the girl again but this time escorted by two women. The taller of the two stood to the right of the girl, and by taller maybe  _ much _ taller would be a better description? Nisha has always been fairly tall for a woman, she didn’t exactly tower over people but she was over the average height. This woman though, was nearly the tallest person in the room (if James wasn’t so incredibly long she would have him beat). Her hair was a light brown that fell a little bit past her shoulders, and although she was tan she still seemed fairly light skinned. She looked maybe Greek or something? Nisha had never been great at telling Europeans apart. The woman wore a light pink ruffled top and a long skirt, casual but still professional. 

 

The shorter woman, a bit under Nisha’s height was dressed more formally; a nice grey suit with smart looking shoes. Her black hair consisted of braids intricately wrapped into a bun at the back of her head. Everything about her, from her clothing to her posture, was professional and poised. Not a thing was off in her entire appearance. She gave a quick and calculated look around the room and nodded to herself before putting on a charming and unassuming smile. The same kind Alex had. 

 

“Ah, wonderful! I didn’t realize there was so many of you!” She said, stepping forward. Sam and James had jumped again, at the ladies sudden appearance— but less severely as the first time. She turned toward James and he seemed uncomfortable with the sudden attention, fiddling with the hem of his sweater. She started at him for a few moments, and he nodded in periodical beats (as if in conversation). Nisha looked to Sam with a confused look as if to say ‘ _????? _ ’ He shrugged and shook his head back, his own face saying ‘ _???????’ _

 

The smartly dressed woman cleared her throat and walked closer to the semi-circle of Nisha, Sam, Finley, Carolyne, and Alex. 

“Hello everyone, my name is Kendra Brasier and I’m sure you all have some questions.”

Carolyne instantly shot her hand up and Kendra made an odd face but nodded. 

“First that sounds like something a movie villain would say” Kendra looked unamused by that “second how do you get your hair to look so perfect?” Kendra smiled a bit at that one, much more impressed. 

 

“That’s easy, coconut cream.” She responded promptly. “If that’s the main pressing questions, please allow me a chance to explain.”

She paused, keeping her hands behind her back and rocked on her feet for a moment. Glancing at everyone in the room with calculated, but not unkind eyes likely giving the group a chance to settle and think things over. The migraine was really starting to wear in Nisha now and she could feel her legs start to quiver, which probably wasn’t……...great. Finley was looking at her weird too, and Nisha inwardly cursed herself. No causing a scene. 

Kendra seemed content with the time she alloted everyone and spoke up again. 

 

“I’m with an organization called the SPDA, we heard reports of testing happening in this facility and came to investigate but strangely only found the signs of a few people inside. Quite curious.”

“I’ve been awake a few days, and the only living people I’ve come across is this group here” Alex said, waving his arm around the room. “We’ve passed by odd bodies and have heard……..some troubling noises.”

 

Kendra frowned, nervous by Alex’s words. 

“Bodies you say? Were they human?”

Carolyne shook her head. 

“I couldn’t figure out what they were. In one hallway we did find a human finger though.”

Nisha put her elbows on her legs, using them to hold the weight of her head as it rested in her palms. Her headache was getting worse, a  _ human finger _ ?

“What kind of noises?” She asked. 

“Like s-skittering” Finley spoke up, for the first time in a long time. “When I awoke I was alone… I heard the skittering and saw s-shapes moving...silhouettes of some creature I didn’t recognize. I was so scared.”

 

Kendra looked back to her tall companion.

“They’ve gotten even more desperate than we thought” Nisha could hear her murmur. The tall woman nodded, grim understanding all over her face. 

“Everyone, please listen” She said. “We are here to liberate you all and allow yourselves a chance at a normal life but you must trust us. You are no longer safe here and we need to leave soon!”

“Liberation?” Carolyne seemed unconvinced. “How do we know this isn’t some cult?”

“Think of it as a separatist organization” the tall woman said. “We work to creating a society superhumans can live in. Some we hire as protection, or to gather others before the government takes hold of them. Others just do what they can to help out: farms, stores, whatever.”

 

Carolyne considered that. “I’m assuming you want us to come work for you then, is that right?”

Kendra nodded. “If you posses high enough levels, we have a town that could use some resources and protection.”

“Sounds like you’re not giving us much of a choice.” Carolyne said as she flipped her braid over her shoulder and balled her fisted had on her hip in thought. 

“Do we have any choice at all?” Nisha asked, glancing at Kendra and crew. “You leave us with little options: hide, work for the government, or work for you— a person we’ve only known twenty minutes.”

 

Her statement weighed heavily on everyone. Sam kept looking back and forth between people, likely trying to catch if he was missing any conversation. Finley chewed on her bottom lip, Alex stroked his goatee. 

“Okay I don't want to interrupt this adult moment” the mystery teen girl spoke up. “But a  _ human finger?? _ What did you even do with it?”

 

Carolyne laughed, the sound loud and grating to Nisha’s headache after the pleasant (if a bit awkward) silence. 

“We didn’t really know what to do with it, so Finley put it in a jar with some rubbing alcohol we found.” Finley nodded, confirming the fact.

Nisha straightened a bit to look at the two women, both of whom had expressions so proud Nisha could have sworn they were receiving the Nobel peace prize or something. 

“I couldn’t really control it so, that answered some questions about the extent of my powers too!” Carolyne said with a nod, her mood lightening noticeably.

 

The tall woman gave Kendra a concerned glance.

“That’s…...so-” she started, clasping her hands together and choosing her words carefully, diplomatically. 

“-COOL!” The teen girl finished for her, jumping up. As soon as she was airborne she disappeared, only to appear less than a second later in front of Finley; excitedly weaving her body around Finey’s slightly taller one likely looking for the damn finger. The teleportation made everyone in the room (save Kendra and her strange companions) flinch again, and Nisha wondered if she would ever get used to this.

 

“Kira!” The tall woman exclaimed. “You really couldn’t have just walked two feet over? That was too hard?”

“It's not my fault God birthed me with cool shit!” Kira replied, not even looking over to the woman, her attention entirely on Finley as something (presumably the finger) was pulled out of her handbag.

“Language!” Kendra reprimanded, but it was lost on the girl and she knew it.

“You know I teach, er,  _ taught _ high school students.” Alex said, moving a little closer to Kendra and leaning in. “So I understand your pain.”

“No you don’t.” Kendra responded promptly, her mouth putting into a smile at the end. “You had to deal with  _ multiple Kira’s _ for  _ hours _ every day, your pain was far worse.”

 

Finley let out a little  _ ‘tada!’ _ Triumphantly as she held a small jar on the palm of her right hand, her left hand supporting the lid. There sure was a human finger alright just sitting there in all its dismembered glory. The amount of enthusiasm Carolyne, Finley, and Kira were showing was morbid. It did remind Nisha of a time in primary school though, when one classmate accidentally killed a bird and her entire class crowded around it to poke at its corpse. 

 

Something from the finger was……..pulling at her however, and without really recognizing the movements her legs decided to take, Nisha was out of the chair and walking towards the finger in its jar. She stopped next to Finley and Carolyne, her hand ghosting half a millimeter above the jar’s lid.

Finley glanced at her, blue eyes wide with apprehension, but calculated and measured apprehension. As soon as Nisha’s fingers were close to the jar, her hands starting collecting the green fog again, this time a transparent and light green— Nisha’s fingers looked fine through it. No bones at all.

 

Seeing her body’s reaction to the finger, Nisha had an idea. Experimentally she twitched her fingers, wiggling them a bit. Immediately as her fingers started squirming, the finger in the jar squirmed as well, the movement of both bodies synced. The room fell silent as Nisha continued her test. She bent the tip of her index finger down, the unknown finger’s tip bent. She tapped her index finger against her thumb, the jar finger tapped at the glass bottom. She twirled her finger around in a circle (like a conductor trying to get the flutists in the back to concentrate), as before the other finger spun in a circle-- floating in its alcohol bath. 

Finley was the first to speak up, and when Nisha raised her brown eyes to the other woman’s blue, Finley’s expression was determined and sure.

“I think I have an idea on how your powers might work.”

 

Nisha nodded sternly. She had her own budding ideas as well. If Carolyne said she could control a body through manipulating their essence of  _ life _ , and Nisha was able to control a  _ severed finger _ , well….

Sam suddenly let out a loud noise. Something between a gasp and a yell, almost barking in its volume. 

“Something is here!” He let out, his breath panting as he looked around wildly. His entire body joined in the movement, toroso turning and twisting. He would pause for a second, calculation visible in his eyes, before he would jump and turn around again. Nisha jumped as well, the motion of breaking contact with the finger and jolting her head upwards made her vision swim. She placed a hand on the first shoulder she could feel (Finley’s, probably) in an act of steadying herself.

 

Kendra jumped into action, the quick response time of someone who had seen many dangers in their life. “Valeria! Kira! Into position!” She shouted, turning to both the tall woman and young girl in succession. She froze for a moment, her eyes moving as she visibly deliberated where this threat was coming from. She stopped and pointed to a doorway that lead to a hallway further down (leading to the rest of the building). 

“Right.” The tall woman (Valeria?) responded curtly, stepping forward to the direction Kendra pointed. She stiffened her stance, placing one leg in front of the other and pulled a small flask out from the pocket in her skirt. Making a pulling motion with her fingers, water came flowing out of the flask until it hovered as a strange and organic blob in front of Valeria. Elemental superhumans were common, or at least expected, but Nisha hadn’t really seen one in action like this before. One time when she was a child, a building near her school caught on fire. It was later revealed to be arson, caused by someone with fire powers, so an elemental with water had to come in to counteract. She never saw any of this happen of course, but it was a subject of deep fascination to everyone in primary school. 

 

The less experienced group took the opportunity to try and get in formation themselves, which was to sort of huddle around each other and nervously wait. Even James moved from his spot in the corner he seemed almost glued to, his height making him almost hover over everyone at the edge of the group. Nisha kept her eyes on Sam, who seemed to know where this mysterious  _ thing _ was coming from and what its movements were. He pulled on Finley’s sleeve and made a few very fast signs. She nodded and tried her best to speak as he signed, her voice barely above a whisper. So low, only those in the huddled group could hear her. 

“The creature isn’t human, but Sam doesn’t know what it is” she explained. “He says it’s large and moving erratically. It should be here any minute, okay now it’s rounding the corner oh wait it’s coming through the doorway!-“

 

Finley was cut off by a small scream. The group turned in near perfect unison to see Kira disappearing and appearing in the same spot repeatedly, almost flickering (some sort of nervous habit?). 

In front of Valeria, at the entryway was some strange large creature. It was taller than even James, having to bend just to fit under the ceiling of the room they were in. It was also black, but in an almost translucent way, as if a shadow had taken form and come to life. The shadow-substance was in a fairly rectangular shape, except for long arms and legs which flowed like ribbons. Around the middle of its body (?) were what looked like two eyes, pure blue and glowing. There was no mouth or similar orifice that Nisha could recognize, but it somehow made a small chirping sound that went up as it ended, almost sounding like a question to the group of human creatures. 

 

Everyone kind of paused, creature included, locked in a strange stalemate. Kira started flickering again, this time more agitated. The gaps between her being present and not, were smaller and Nisha had to look away fairly quickly, looking too long worsened her headache. Valeria held up her hand, possibly knowing what Kira was doing without seeing her? But that seemed to work, calming her down enough to stay in place. 

 

The creature squinted it’s eyes, observing everyone closely. It’s eyes would land on a specific person for a while, Valeria first, until it seemed satisfied with her and moved on. Nisha wondered what it was doing. It could possibly be deciding what it’s next move was, but could this thing even think? Could James mindread its thoughts or did that only work on human-

 

‘ _ I can’t _ ’ a voice came into her head. Nisha flinched, it was an uncomfortable sensation having someone else suddenly speaking in your mind. She looked up to James, who made an apologetic little wince. His voice in her mind was strong and clear. Nothing like the reedy, stuttering amalgam of sounds he made when talking in person. Well, his thought-voice was reedy too, but easier to understand. His words came through in succinct coherence. Not like Nisha’s thoughts, jagged and rapid, moving and changing at infinite speed. 

‘ _ Sorry’.  _

_ ‘No, it’s fine’  _ Nisha said (thought?). ‘ _ Just a weird feeling to get used to.’ _

The creature kept making its chirping noises, adding in a few clicks as well, as it analyzed everyone. Nisha couldn’t tell if it was talking in a legitimate syntax or if the noises were just sounds it was making. They seemed intentional, whatever they were. 

When it’s eyes reached Nisha it paused for a moment, and then let out a high pitched squealing noise, high pitched meaning so high in pitch it caused everyone present to wince and cover their ears (Sam included). As everyone recoiled, the creature sped forth to Nisha, narrowly weaving through the persons in its way. It reached her with strange tendril arms raised and then wrapped those tendrils around Nisha’s waist, squeezing slightly. Not hard enough to hurt, but strong enough to make a good grip. 

 

Nisha proceeded to freak out. Only noticing slightly, in the back of her mind, her hands gained the green mist again. She placed both hands on each tendril as a way to try and leverage herself out of that situation but she noticed they had gone to the  _ dark _ green again, the almost black green. Bits of bone peppered throughout the most. First contact between her mist and whatever counted as skin on the creature, bore a  _ hissing, sizzling _ sound. This was the sound of battery acid dissolving a styrofoam plate, this was the sound of a high school chemistry class gone wrong, this was the sound of Nisha  _ brining the death of this creature, cell by cell _ . The dark mist was so powerful that in the second Nisha’s hands touched the creatures tendrils she had already managed to completely erode a  _ hole _ through its flesh/bone/membrane/whatever. 

 

The creature  _ screamed _ in pain, releasing Nisha to flail it’s tendrils around wildly. She took the opportunity to stumble backwards as fast as she could, refusing to break eye contact from it. It looked like it was about to reel back and attack Nisha when it’s body completely locked up. Carolyne held both her arms out, palms facing the monster and watched it with a small smirk on her face. Jets of water hit its sides, Valeria sending quick streams, her right pumping like she was throwing frisbees of water held by her left arm. 

 

“KIRA!” Kendra shouted. Her voice was concerned but her face stayed professional, brave. “You need to get her out of here  _ NOW!” _

Kira seemed unsure what to do, glancing at her older colleague and Nisha, while flickering in and out of place, likely locked up in fear. Carolyne swore loudly as the monster was released from her grip, falling to the floor with the sudden lapse of tension. The monster made to move toward Nisha again, but before it truly could, a large gust (no)  _ torrent _ of wind blew into it, forcefully pushing it until hit the wall with a  _ ‘crack!’  _

 

Kira was at Nisha’s side in an instant, her small shaking hand on Nisha’s shoulder. Before Nisha could truly comprehend what just happened her vision blurred. Like those photographs where all the lights become long lines, the world spun around her in unrecognizable lines and colors. Before she could really get a grip on the new sensation and experience, she fell, her body hitting a plush yard of grass. All she saw was Kira’s legs in the grass jumping up, and then disappearing again. 

 

Nisha felt bad. She felt worse than bad she felt  _ awful,  _ but she laid in the grass a hand covering her eyes. She listened to the sounds of birds and rushing cars. She felt beams of the strong Georgia sun hit her face, warm and powerful even in September. She let all these sensations hit her at once and laughed. She laughed and laughed, her voice raw and rough from stress. She laughed until she cried, and then cried some more. 

 

She was  _ alive _ . She  _ died _ but she was  _ alive _ . For the first time in such a long, long time Nisha Kakkar felt  _ alive.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am SO sorry this is so long..........................................


	4. Movement Two: Sam Finally Gets Some Godamn Rest (NOT Clickbait!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Nothing could go wrong, today was a perfect day!
> 
> If he kept saying that to himself maybe he’d actually believe it!!!"
> 
> A POV change! A character introduction! We got it all and it's all here!

Sam Hewett was having a great time, wonderful in fact! He was loving life! He was laughing! He was living! Nothing could go wrong, today was a perfect day!

If he kept saying that to himself maybe he’d actually believe it!!!

 

As a kid, he’d never been a  _ fan _ of small spaces. They made him feel trapped and squeezed, all air leaving his lungs and escaping for a better chance of life elsewhere. As soon as he woke up with magic anime air powers though, his claustrophobia had become significantly worse. Air had become his companion and with this relationship, he could feel its whisps and tendrils collecting data, numbers, and information about everything it touched. He could tell, without even looking, the exact shape and density of an object. He now knew  _ when _ people were talking, he could feel the air leave their lungs. He could sense what it felt like for each of them to talk. He still didn’t know what they were saying, but it helped him keep up with the conversation, knowing who to turn his head back and forth towards. 

 

When he first woke up it was sensory overload, too much raw data and information being thrown to him at once. He had to close his eyes and take several deep breaths, dispelling air, creating swirls around him until he was able to take in his powers at full force. The testing facility was a headache. Dark fluorescent lighting makes it difficult to read what people were saying (when the small band of heroes found Finley he felt like he was going to cry, so thankful and relieved to have someone to help communicate). 

The rooms were small and cramped, very little AC making the air stagnant and restless. Sam became restless too, the few times he tried to lay down and sleep he found he just couldn’t. 

 

Now he was stuck in a cramped van, eight people squeezed as close as they could fit. He felt like he was going to explode, air circled around him wanting the chance to be free. He let out a breath, sending winds streaming through the vehicle and that made him feel a little better. 

Hot, short air came out in a burst. Someone was talking behind him. 

“-am I swear to god if you don’t stop doing that I’m gonna take your arm and force it through your throat.” Carolyne was complaining when he turned his head. He just frowned at her, knowing her threats were pretty empty. She was just as tired and grumpy as everyone else. “What’s the point of having a girl with teleportation powers if we’re just going to ride around in a van?”

 

Sam turned toward the front of the car, guessing the question was directed to the drivers. Valeria turned around, her brown hair cascading over her shoulder. 

“Kira is only sixteen!” She reprimanded Carolyne. “She’s still learning to adjust and get powers as she grows, plus that whole ordeal was too much for her.”

That must have made Carolyne content because he didn’t feel any more of her bursts of hot, angry air. 

 

Sam was in a bench-like seat between Nisha to his left side and Finley on his right. 

Fin leaned against the armrest of the van, her actual arms providing cushions for her head. Her eyes were closed and Sam felt her breathing, soft and steady. He wondered if James could read what she was dreaming about. Glancing back to ask him, Sam saw James asleep against the van window, his cheek pressed to the glass and his red-rimmed glasses skewered. 

 

If anyone should be asleep right now it would be Nisha. Finley mentioned that she was concerned about Nisha’s endurance. She hypothesized that the other woman wouldn’t have too much energy from the start when she woke up, as Nisha seemed more out of it than everyone else. Even if she hadn’t been, Sam wore out pretty quickly when he first woke up. Plus he didn’t have to fight a giant alien monster immediately afterward. He couldn’t imagine how exhausted Nisha must be. 

She was awake, arm propped up on the armrest to support her chin as she watched out the window. Maybe sheer stubborn force of will was keeping her from crashing? She seemed deep in thought, frowning intently. 

 

Sam liked Nisha. She was grumpy and a little intimidating, but not in the way Carolyne was. He thought Carolyne was a little mean, but he still was trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. They were all running on little sleep and little food. Alex was the first person to wake up, and Sam was the first person Alex found. The two of them had been awake and running around for three days or so before they’d found Nisha. Finley helped scrounge up some snacks, and James hacked into a few vending machines at one point. It kept them alive but not healthy. 

 

Nisha seemed more tired than any of them somehow, a deep-set exhaustion Sam was sure he wouldn’t even begin to understand. James at mentioned at one point when she was still asleep that her mind was battling with something. Her being fighting with another force for control. She had been kind to Sam when she woke up though, always turning toward him when she spoke, slow and clear and easy to understand. 

He liked Finley a lot too. She was also kind to him, patiently interpreting even though she wasn’t trained as an interpreter much at all. She seemed skittish, jumpy like a rabbit. Sam had a feeling he was going to have to get past a few walls before he’d get to understand the ‘true’ Finley. 

 

The jury was still out on Alex, Carolyne, and James. Mind Readers were never much of a concern to the Deaf community. He had a hard of hearing kid in college once told him about the different ways that a Deaf person and a hearing person would think. A hearing mind reader would have a hard time getting around the different system he thought in. So as far as James went, Sam knew his secrets were safe. 

Still, though, James seemed sneaky. Sam knew very little about him, other than the fact that he was good with computers. It was hard to really form an opinion about a ghost. 

 

Alex was friendly, but Sam could tell he was saving face. He wondered what the other man  _ truly _ thought about things. Maybe being a mind reader would actually be helpful in that situation, James probably knew. 

Carolyne just seemed rude. Sam didn’t think she was evil, she was perfectly capable of kindness and had shown that kindness to Sam before, but she was a bit of a walking contradiction. 

 

The van drove down a brick street, stopping in front of a series of buildings. They appeared to be Downtown, the old and worn but inviting buildings ran up and down the street. The building in front of the van was around the same size as the others surrounding it. Two stories in a typical storefront style, it was older looking and the bricks were pained a nice white. The paint was chipped in places, but its appearance didn’t strike Same as shabby, just well-loved. At the top of the first floor was a sign labeled: ‘SPDA Piedmont Branch’. 

Air moved around at the front of the van. Kendra was talking.

 

“This is where you’re going to have to get out for now”. She said when she turned around. “You all seem pretty worn out, so we have food and beds for everyone. Feel free to ask any questions you want, but we’ll have the primary classification tomorrow.”

The moment Sam saw ‘bed’ he suddenly felt ages older than he was. His fatigue was starting to reach up to him but years of practice running on little resources made him tough. He wasn’t surprised he had lasted this long at all, but he also wasn’t about to say he was feeling great either. 

 

He nudged Finley awake and she made a startled jump, looking around.

“ _ Sorry!”  _ He signed. “ _ We’re here.” _

Finley blinked at him, long and slow with a blank expression on her face. Finally, she nodded and turned to grab her things. 

 

Inside the building was a typical reception area. There was a desk that had one of those small swinging door things like in courtrooms that divided up half of the main area. The half accessible showed the desk complete with a bored receptionist, plastic chairs seated by potted plants and magazine stands. Sam glanced around, looking for the holder of brochures filled with helpful information no one reads. He’d been in enough social workers offices to expect some constants.

Ah— there it is, on the receptionist's desk, just as expected. 

 

The receptionist had long green straight hair that was pulled up into a messy bun. They wore a T-shirt for some gardening company, with a yellow cardigan over it. They glanced up at everyone walking in for a moment but quickly turned back to their book apparently already bored. 

“-ra -ere?” They asked. With the angle of their mouth pointed down to their book, it was really hard for Sam to see what they were saying. 

“Ah, no. I believe she said she’s going to park the van.” Alex said, his classic charming smile right on his face. The receptionist simply gave a thumbs up, not even looking up from their page. Friendly sort. 

Alex seemed at a loss for what to do. He walked over to a chair closest to the receptionist’s desk and practically collapsed into it, his entire demeanor exhausted. The fact that he was this worn out from the actions of Walking To The Building and Standing For a Few Minutes, truly was a testament to how tired he was. 

 

Actually, now that Sam was thinking about it, sitting down seemed like a really good idea. He mimicked Alex’s exhausted collapse, whether unintentionally or not. The others followed suit, all taking chairs around each other. Carolyne sat closest to one of the potted plants, moving her fingers absentmindedly while the leaf of the plant (a spider plant maybe?) followed her movement. She twirled her pointer finger and the long leaf wrapped itself around her. She smiled softly at it, the happiest Sam had seen her in a few days. 

 

A rush of new, outside air came swirling into the room. Sam looked up to see Kendra and Valeria walk in. Bored Receptionist lifted their head, nodded when they saw it was Kendra, and looked down to type something on a computer. 

“Ah, I see you’ve all met Parva,” Kendra said, nodding her head towards the receptionist. 

“Are you testing them or what?” They asked, looking up and eyeing Alex with suspicion. 

“Actually first they need a good meal and good night's sleep” Kendra explained. “Care to join us?”

Parva made a face and Kendra let out some bits of air without talking, likely chuckling? This must be a common occurrence with them. 

“Can I go?”

 

Kendra waved them off, turning to walk towards Valeria—who was lifting up the little courtroom door...thing. 

“You can go, I don’t have anything else you need to work on today.” Sam had felt Kendra take a breath to speak, but stopped and turned around, talking clearly in a way that he could understand. The others seemed a little apprehensive of her, but Sam liked her a lot. Almost every time she spoke she turned so he could be included in the conversation, it was nice. 

 

Parva didn’t need to be told to leave twice, immediately jumping up and collecting their things into a satchel. They turned off their computer and briskly walked through the door, not even looking at all the newcomers or saying goodbye. Sam felt the quick patch of outside air mingle with the more stagnant inside air and sighed happily. This building was air conditioned at least, but it was no match for outside. Maybe he’d be a little less restless than in the other building because it  _ is  _ air-conditioned? 

 

“Are they always like that?” Sam asked.

“Like what? Hard to communicate with and seemingly apathetic? All the time” Kendra responded, looking a little amused. Behind her, Alex seemed like he was starting to regret the decision of joining up with these people. Sam did feel a little bad for him, between Carolyne, Nisha and Parva there was already an  _ interesting _ cast of characters. “They’re a hell of a receptionist though.”

 

“I should get started on dinner, any dietary restrictions?” Valeria asked from behind the courthouse door. 

“There’s a lot” Kendra responded, holding her chin and tapping her upper lip as she thought. She seemed to be taking more to Valeria than anyone else “Nisha doesn’t eat beef, but Carolyne is vegetarian so that solves that problem. Finley is kosher, so some kosher meal that has no meat?”

Valeria nodded and turned down the hallway to some other room. Sam could feel tension bubbling up from everyone else in the room. Finley was frowning and worrying on her bottom lip, Nisha seemed upset but it was hard to tell what she was thinking, Alex, looked conflicted between wanting to be cordial and wanting to be mistrusting. The only person who didn’t look entirely uncomfortable was James. 

 

“Are you a mindreader?” Alex asked, after a pause. 

“A mind reader that just saved your life, yes” Kendra responded. Sam wondered if she got this mistrust a lot. How long did she have her powers for? Mind Reading must be awful lonely, not everyone could have hit the superpowers jackpot as Sam did. 

 

The group turned in near-complete unison to James. He immediately flinched a bit, drawing in on himself trying to make himself smaller. 

“Did you know this?” Carolyne asked, her expression stern. 

“Uh…y-yes?” James replied. Sam could probably count the number of words the other man had said to anyone since he’d found them. Sam was pretty good at figuring out what people were like, but James was still a complete mystery. 

 

“Wh-why didn’t you tell us?” Finley asked. She looked betrayed.

“You didn’t ask?” James was really folding in on himself now and was halfway backed up to the door. Sam had a feeling this was going to get ugly if someone didn’t stop the fight stirring up already. Carolyne took in a large breath and Sam knew he needed to step in before things got worse. 

 

“I don’t care  _ what _ Kendra does, I’m not turning down free food!” He said, dramatically walking through the courtroom door into the hallway beyond. Kendra smiled at him as he passed her, thankful. As he walked through the hall, the air told him that several bodies had started to move after him, albeit a little more slowly. 

At the end of the hallway was a door and through the door was a typical living room. There was a plush couch under a window that was worn and blue but seemed comfy. Kira sat on the end furthest from him, typing something on her phone. When Sam walked into the room, she glanced up. 

“Do you need to use the toilet?” She asked. Sam considered that he’d had a long day and just now was physically starting to relax, maybe a bathroom break was in order. He nodded and Kira disappeared, appearing in the same instant further into the room, in front of a door— the only one on the wall it inhabited. Sam jumped a bit at the air pressure change, still not used to such unexpected adjustments. Kira rolled her eyes as he adjusted himself, steadying his body with his legs like when a train stops of you’ve let go of the hand rest.

“Air elementals, I swear to god…. It’s not that big of a deal!” She reprimanded. Sam frowned back at her. He didn’t know what teleportation powers were like but he had a feeling they weren’t as ‘in your face constant information and sensory overload’ as his were. He decided fighting was not worth it as his bladder reminded him ‘ _ hey dip shit you haven’t gone to the bathroom in hours get on that!’ _

 

As he went about his business, the air told him that people were entering the room and finding places to sit. He took his time washing his hands, challenging himself to see if he could guess the identities of everyone just from the volumes they occupied and air wrapped around. One was tall, far taller than any of the others— that must be James. He stood at the window for a moment or two before he moved closer to the bathroom door. The next tallest (Nisha) had walked into the room and without stopping plopped herself right onto the couch. Her energy must be waning. 

The next— aw, damn it. It’s hard to focus that long without getting a headache, and Sam sheepishly realized he’d left the bathroom sink running. 

 

When he opened the door it nearly flew into James, who backed up all startled. He gave Sam an awkward little grin, Sam hadn’t noticed before but his light brown cheeks were peppered with darker brown freckles. His green eyes were striking, Something Sam also hadn’t really paid attention to. James waved before ducking behind Sam into the bathroom, quickly shutting the door. 

 

_ Wait _ , James is kind of cute. 

 

Sam considered that revelation as he walked back to the other group. He hardly paid any attention as he sat down hard on the couch next to Nisha. He was really starting to let up the tension for the first time in…..three, four days? Back in the facility, he’d been focused on getting out of there and trying to get used to the constant cataloging system that the winds were sending him. Now though, he had time to sit and decide which of his new friends were attractive or not.

Finley was obviously at the top of the list, an absolute ten out of ten. Right now she was worrying over something, which is an activity she did a lot. She was biting at her bottom lip as she moved her feet in some kind of elaborate pattern, tapping from time to time— recreating the beat of a song maybe?

 

Not that anyone else was less attractive. in fact everyone in their little group was absolutely stellar. How did someone like Sam wind up among such beauties? Alex was very handsome, a great sharp jawline and beautifully wavy hair, Nisha managed to look beautiful in spite of her ‘sort of a zombie’ condition, Carolyne had amazing graceful features. God said pansexual rights by placing Sam in this group, truly. 

 

Alex was talking with Kira, and he managed to not only have her interested but had her  _ smiling  _ and  _ laughing  _ with what he was saying. Sam had never been amazing with teenagers but he had a feeling he was going to be interacting with Kira much more in the future, maybe he should ask Alex for his magic with the youths?

 

Air moved around the front of the room where a door was. When Sam glanced up he saw Valeria, her long brown hair pulled into a quick messy bun at the top of her head. She wiped her hands on an apron she must have put on when she started cooking, and then clapped them, short pockets of hair bursting with pressure. When she gathered everyone’s attention she smiled. 

 

“The food is ready! Just follow me here! Kira, it’s seven now so that means no more powers.”

Kira made a face and stuck out her tongue but walked forward, pushing through the door and fading into the room beyond. Kendra was next, but she stopped when she came to Valeria and reached her hand up so it touched the other woman’s cheek. Valeria bent down, following the curve of Kendra’s arm and Kendra gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Valeria smiled softly, looking off to the side and patted Kendra’s arm as she walked off through the door where Kira went. 

 

Well, that explained some things. Sam looked back at the other group, gauging their reactions. Finley was looking on with stars in her eyes, and she shared a glance with James. They shared a small smile and looked like they’d just had a conversation without even saying anything. Sam wasn’t sure what that was about, but it was not for him to pry. Alex smiled fondly and Sam wondered what that meant. Does Alex is gay? Sam certainly hoped so. 

 

Past the door Valeria and co entered through was a typical dining room, small but quaint. The walls were dark blue with white trim, on one side was an entryway that leads to what Sam had to assume was the kitchen— from this angle, he could see a white linoleum floor and a similarly white fridge. In the dining room was a small table that looked like it couldn’t normally fit more than five people, but chairs were added at every possible space. Sam picked a seat at a corner, he didn’t want to get trapped in between people if he had to pee again. Nisha sat down next to him and nodded when he looked at her, seemingly her way of saying this is the obvious course of action. Sam grinned and looked to see if it was polite to grab food yet. 

 

There was a basket of dinner rolls, a bowl of some fried green vegetables with rice, and another bowl of pasta with a red sauce (linguini maybe?). Sam noticed that Carolyne placed herself as far from Nisha as possible. Strong bursts of air were coming from her, so she seemed to be talking loudly about something. Sam was too tired to try and lipread everything she was saying, he was hungry! Also, the lighting in the room was fairly dark, and she was talking horribly fast. She said something and grinned, elbowing Alex in the side. He rolled his eyes but there was a small smile on his lips, mild amusement rather than annoyance. 

 

Different patterns of breath kept going off at once, different conversations happening at once. Sam sighed and slumped down on the table, frustrated. Keeping up with all these hearing people was exhausting. 

He felt a nudge at his right arm and turned. Nisha had her phone held out to him, some sort of notes app opened. He smiled at her, gratefulness radiating off of him. 

‘ _ What’s the American custom for eating when you don’t really know someone’  _ she had typed out on the screen. Sam grabbed the phone and typed himself. 

‘ _ i dnt fuckin kno. i wld have eaten by now if i did’ _ he responded. 

Nisha nodded when she read his response and made a very sad face looking at the food. Truly tragic, Oscar-worthy. A single year nearly rolled down her cheek. 

Sam felt a tap on his right shoulder. 

Kendra smiled when he glanced up at her. 

 

“You’re allowed to eat now.” She said, gesturing to Sam’s politely empty plate of food. He didn’t have to be told twice, grabbing a few rolls and piling on pasta without hesitation. As soon as Nisha saw him start to make a grab for food, she followed his movement, also creating her own pasta mountain. Sam knew he was at the dangerous place of hunger where the moment he let food enter his mouth he was going to wharf it down like a five-year-old snacking after swimming. He did not wharf down food as fast as he wanted too and felt like he deserved a sticker for his self-restraint. By the time he had gone through two and a half of his rolls and made a significant dent in his pasta, there was a conversation happening with the rest of the table. 

 

“You never really properly introduced yourself, you work with Kendra?” Alex was asking. 

 

“Oh!” Valeria responded, covering her mouth in surprise, it was quite adorable. “I assumed it was obvious! I’m Valeria Rizzo, or Valeria Rizzo-Brasier depending on who you’re talking to.”

Nisha nudged Sam’s arm. When Sam turned she had her phone out again. 

‘ _ Is rizzo a Greek name’  _ her phone said.

‘ _ No????’  _ Sam replied, ‘ _ I think it's itallian’ _

 

When Nisha took her phone back she gave a little face of disappointment, pursing her lips and snapping her fingers. Sam didn’t really know what that was about and he wasn’t going to ask. He glanced back to the rest of the table to try and figure out where the conversation had moved. 

 

“-at’s quite the question isn’t it?” Kendra asked. Sam couldn’t tell if it was rhetorical or not, but no one answered so it probably was.  “Mostly what you’d be doing depends on what’s needed and what you can offer. We have a need for an offensive and protective team, but I would never force someone into that if they didn’t want to.”

“Are you talking about what our job is?” Sam cut in. Kendra nodded and Sam made sure to stay alert, he didn’t want to miss any of this conversation. 

 

“That sounds like a job that’s elevated cops. I’m not being a fucking cop.” Carolyne said, frowning from her end of the table. Valeria held up her hands in a calming gesture. 

“Whoa, trust me you wouldn’t be cops! More like…… people who keep an area safe, protect other superhumans, offer favors to those who need it. Elevated social workers, if anything.”

 

“Not everyone works in those positions, however, and not everyone has just one way to contribute. Parva works as our receptionist extraordinaire, but their powers help plants grow really fast, so when they get home they grow food to help people.” Kendra explained. Sam nodded, his head feeling heavy. He was starting to hit the fun thing after starving of any food you get making you incredibly sleepy. 

 

“Any other inquiries since we’re playing twenty questions?” Kira asked she had both her arms resting on the table. One laying on the tabletop itself and the other propping her chin in her hand. She seemed quite bored, but Sam copied her posing it seemed comfy. 

 

“How long have you and Kendra been together? Is that inappropriate?” Finley asked, there was a bit of hesitation in her expression, hands worrying at each other. 

“Not at all!” Valeria started, she seemed pleased. “Let’s see…. Kira is sixteen and we were together for five years when we got her so...twenty two years! It’s funny we actually met in college, we had the same art history class together and-“

 

Sam closed his eyes. He didn’t mean to be rude but keeping up with the fast-paced conversation was exhausting. He was sure the story of how Valeria and Kendra met was a sweet tale but he was too tired for it. Before he could open them up again, he was fast asleep— a mixture of crashing from exhaustion and crashing from the food coma he just put himself into. 

 

He faded into a dream. It wasn’t a special dream, there was no plot important foreshadowing. Instead, he was sitting on a bench in a park. The park was by his apartment, he had gone there sometimes to people watch. Now there weren’t any people, just a small patch of land and a park bench sitting in a void. Sam watched two dogs, corgis, run around and he wished he had a dog again. To the left of him, James faded in from the void. 

“Oh, hey,” Sam said. 

“I…...I shouldn’t be here, this feels invasive” James replied, he glanced around widely for a bit and kept practically vaulting his legs up as the dogs ran beneath his feet. “I need to leave.”

Sam was about to tell him he appreciated the company, but then James just sort of…...faded away, as suddenly as he came. Man, dreams sure are weird!

 

Real Sam jolted up with a start. A quick glance around the room revealed that he had been moved from the kitchen into the living room. He was on the blue couch, a sheet politely added underneath him. The living room was filled with an air mattress and a cot, Nisha was asleep on one, Finley the other. Sam sat and watched the two of them for a minute. He could feel the slow and patterned breaths as they slept and it calmed him down. Not that he wanted to be creepy! He just needed a moment to think!

When it was evident no one was going to wake up, he lay back down, closing his eyes and drifting off again. 

 

The next morning when we came to, Finley and Nisha were talking. What about he couldn’t tell, but the air told him small and soft bursts were coming from them, a private conversation.

“I don’t mean to break up whatever is happening here” Sam interjected. “But do you know what we’re supposed to be doing?”

Finely was all soft smiles when she turned to him, kind and honest. “That’s what we were just discussing.”

“Kendra says we have a choice with what we do but… I’m not convinced. I have a feeling she has a very specific path for powers like mine” Nisha said. Her hair wasn’t up in its ponytail yet and fell in semi-wavy curves to her shoulders. It was a good look.

“You’re an engineer, right? There are lots of uses for you.” Sam was trying to be encouraging, but Nisha wasn’t buying it.

  
  


“Well, I’m going to do it, join this new team,” Finley said. “It sounds like I can really help people this way… that’s why I became a nurse. It’s probably the reason why I’m now a healer. My Mom raised me to help people, no matter what, make the world a better place. It’s my duty.”

Sam and Nisha glanced at each other. Finley’s resolve was genuine, and a bit infectious. Sam knew about these superhero teams, that would be camped out in towns and supposedly offer aid to anyone that needed help. It sounded a bit idealistic, but he had to admit even he wasn’t immune to the glamor of it. 

 

“If you’re going to, I will too!” Sam decided. He liked Finley, wanted to get to know her better, maybe something more? Only time will tell. He and Fin turned toward Nisha at the same time. She frowned in thought and bit her lower lip. 

“I don’t know.” She said finally. “I haven’t decided… no offense but I don’t know you people hardly at all. I’m not comfortable putting my life in your hands.”

“My favorite color is blue, I love dogs, and if I drink too much milk I’ll throw up” Sam suggested with a small smile. “Now you know a little more about me. I’m from Canada and can’t stand how hot it gets here, I have a scar from where a lamp fell on my nose.”

Nisha smiled at him. One of her rare smiles, it was genuine and beautiful and lit up her whole face. Finley was next. 

 

“I’ve been teaching myself fiber crafts and I love to knit sweaters, when I get stressed, I like to look at rabbit compilation videos on YouTube, I went through all of medical school without pulling a single all-nighter and I’m still proud of that.”

Nisha smiled again. “My opinion is wavering, but not swayed.” She got up and stretched a bit before turning back to Sam. “My favorite animals are tigers, and I happen to love how hot it gets here.”

 

Someone entered the room, when Sam looked up he saw Kira, standing from the doorway that led to the receptionist office. “Mo- Kendra says she’s all set up for you if you don’t mind waiting. The others are already in there.”

 

‘The others’ were Carolyne, Alex, and James. Carolyne seemed refreshed and energetic, she chatted away to whoever would listen to her, an arm resting on Alex’s shoulder. James looked less rested and well, blearily blinking at any sudden movements. When he caught Sam’s eye he blushed and looked down. That’s odd, especially odder still after just having a dream with James in it. 

When everyone sat down Kendra spoke. 

 

“So I’m assuming all of you and deciding to join with us?” She asked. There was a group nod, almost in unison. Nisha seemed resigned but brave. Valeria came in from a door behind Kendra and leaned against the frame, crossing her arms as she watched everyone. Kendra grinned. “Great. Now, show of hands— how many of you are willing to work in a newly formed offensive slash defensive team? The orientation process is different otherwise.”

Sam hesitated but then shot his hand up, Finley’s resolve still running through him. Her hand was up as well, her face was calm and decided and so, so brave. Carolyne’s arm was rested on a small coffee table next to her, propping her hand which was raised lazily. Her face was of someone who found this whole thing silly. Of  _ course, _ she would be joining on, isn’t it obvious?

 

Alex nodded with his upward arm, his expression strong and capable and sure. Actually, he had a similar expression to Finley. Both brave and courageous, taking this maybe too seriously. 

James and Nisha seemed apprehensive. She frowned in thought, apparently still unconvinced. Sam smiled when she glanced at him and she rolled her eyes, slowly bringing up her own hand. Sam was no mind reader but he swore he could see her thinking ‘ _ fine! I’ll do it since you’re all being so sincere about it!” _

James saw that everyone else had raised their hands and stuck his hand up too— shyly, scared, nervous. 

 

“Oh wow, all of you” Kendra looked legitimately surprised. 

“They’re the perfect number, too” Valeria added, from her door. Kendra nodded absentmindedly, looking everyone over. She was obviously thinking. 

“Actually I have a question!” Sam interjected, shooting his hand straight back up and waiving it. Kendra nodded at him, eyebrow raised.

“So if we’re joining your underground superhero vigilante…..thing, is there any insurance plan? Cause it sounds fun but I don’t want to struggle for black market T if you know what I mean.”

 

Sam ended that sentence with the slightest cringe, coming out was always a weird gamble. He felt a gasp next to him. Nisha was looking at him with wide eyes, not ‘that’s weird’ eyes, but ‘ _ I understand _ ’ eyes.

“I...also have that problem… uh” she said. “Except with...uh, estrogen.”

Sam and Nisha looked at each other and smiled. The sudden ‘ _ holy shit there’s another person like me!’ _ Kind of smile.

“Nisha we have a solution ready to go for you,” Valeria said, her face all soft smiles.  “It’s Finley. Most healers work off of transferring what they have into the injured person, so we’ve had healers that just… transfer hormones.”

 

“Wait  _ really? _ ” Nisha said, looking at Finley, who nodded with eyes glowing. “So no more needles? I could kiss you!”

Finley herself smiled bashfully and looked down, saying something Sam couldn’t catch.

“We’ll work something out for you Sam” Kendra assured him. “How long do you have until you run out?”

“Uh, about a month? Do I have to work more hours for this?”

“No, don’t worry about it we’ll handle it.”

 

Sam didn’t want to bother fighting her, so he just kept quiet. He looked at Nisha again and they exchanged another giddy smile.

 

“Well,” Kendra said. “Now  _ that’s  _ dealt with, I wanted to get a chronological report of what went down at that facility. Do you know who the first person to wake up?”

 

Heads in unison turned to Sam. He wasn’t entirely surprised, he had been the one to find Alex, and together they found Carolyne, then Finley and so on. The only person that was unknown on the timeline was James, who had found all of them. Alex said something about seeing James’ past trail and reasoning he woke up around the same time Carolyne did. Or something. It was all a bunch of complicated time travel stuff Sam didn’t understand. His powers were simple, controlling wind and listening to the strings of data he got from it, just as he liked it. 

“Yeah, I’ll go first!” Sam said. Valeria smiled and moved away from the door, politely holding it open for him. 

 

The room was small but well lit. Sam sat down at a chair that was in front of a desk with a laptop and some sort of printer thing. Kendra and Valeria sat down behind the table, Valeria opening the laptop and typing something. 

“So Sam,” Kendra said tenting her fingers on the table, the image of control and power. “Tell us everything you remember.”

 

Sam thought about that. “Well,” he said. “There were screenings at my work, just like for a lot of people, and when I rang high in the test I got corralled to that building. There weren’t too many people around so I think I was one of the first ones to get tested. I asked them what was going on but why would anyone tell me anything! Anyway, they took me to this room and held me down even though I wasn’t struggling that much! I read these conspiracy theories online once about how the government was using this gas to induce dormant superpowers in people, I guess the conspiracy theorists were right haha!”

 

“Well, that was…..interesting.” Kendra just. Kind of stared at him. 

“Wait I’m not done!” Sam interjected. 

“Oh, you’re not done? You sounded done.”

Sam shook his head. “SO THEN! They put this weird gas mask thing over my face? Like the kind that’s on airplanes?”

“An oxygen mask,” Valeria suggested with a polite smile from her computer. 

“Sure,” Sam said. “So the gas mask was put over my face and this weird smelling gas started pumping in. It was sweet-smelling, like a vape! But also more mechanical. As it hit my system I started to feel like my body was disintegrating into little tendrils, and I thought ‘ _ wow! This must be some really fucked up weed or something’.  _

 

“But then I saw the faces of the people around me and they were freaking out. I didn’t understand why they were so scared until I looked down and saw my arms! They had turned into like. These blue wisps of air! I thought I was high or out of it but hey, might as well make the most of it. So I flew myself through the vent into an empty room, whatever hit me was strong though and I crashed and passed out in there.”

 

“When I woke up the place was empty, didn’t see anyone around. It took me a little while to get used to my powers but when I did I went wandering for an exit but found Alex! We kept looking until we found Carolyne, then Finley,  _ then _ that finger, and after that Nisha. James found us sometime in there too, I think he spent a lot of time by himself so I don’t really know where he fits on the timeline.”

 

“So you managed to transform yourself in to wind?” Kendra asked. “Immediately after turning?”

“Uh, yeah. Doesn’t everyone do that?”

Valeria shook her head. “When my powers awakened, I started crying and realized I was controlling where my tears were falling. I never turned myself into water, that is  _ very _ highly advanced practice.”

“Can you still turn into air?” Kendra but in, leaning into Sam’s space. He backed up a little bit but thought about it.

“Well, I was able to turn my finger into the wind, but that left me pretty tuckered out. ``he said. Kendra nodded, apparently expecting that response. Valeria typed on the laptop but glanced up at the two of them with a smile every so often.

 

“Alright Sam, we’re almost done here. I just need some key information. What's your full name?” She asked.

“Samuel Lee Hewett!” Valeria nodded, tying quickly.

“Date of birth?”

“Um... August second, 1995.” More typing.

“Okay. So to the best of your knowledge you just have air elemental related powers, right?”

Sam nodded and Valeria glanced up at him, quickly looking down again to the laptop.

“You’ll be getting an identification card soon” Kendra explained. “It’s basically just an official way to say you’re with us. Keeps federal off your tail.”

“How does that work?” Sam asked, tilting his head. “I thought this was some fringe group.”

 

Kendra tilted her hand back and forth, a  _ so-so _ gesture. “Do you know anything about the political factions in America right now?”

“Not really.”

“Well, no one could really decide what to do with the all the superhumans popping up and there was a lot of fights. Things nearly were on the bridge of another civil war, but a compromise was reached. Basically, there are several different kinds of factions: the federal government, a conglomerate of corporations, and a collection of nonprofits like us, just to name some major groups. Whoever gets to a superhuman and gets them to join first, has dibs. There’s still fighting  _ sure _ , but things are a bit smoother now.”

 

“By being with us, rather than just coast by on your own, you have more security and support!” Valeria added. Sam nodded, this all sounded fine by him. Any support he could get he would take. Valeria turned to the printer machine and pulled out a small rectangle of plastic, handing it to Sam.

He looked at his new identification card, turning it over. It was an unsaturated blue, with white text reading: 

_ ‘NAME- Hewett, Samuel _

_ DOB: 8/02/95 _

_ CLASS: Elemental (air) _

_ TEAM: GA04.06 _ ’

 

There was a symbol in the corner: a bird stylistically swept its wings in a circular shape, in the negative space was the text  _ ‘SPDA’.  _ Sam smiled at his new card, it felt real and official-like he was some kind of spy! The cool movie kind, not the kind that bombed poor countries for oil.

 

“So this is it, right? I’m one of you?” Sam asked, looking back up.

“You’re one of us.” Kendra reinforced, her smile was warm and motherly. Sam took in a deep breath and looked down at the card again. 

This was his new start to a new life, again. He’d done this before he was up to the challenge. He had new friends to make, new relationships to pursue, and damn it he was going to try his hardest to learn how to fly.

Life is looking up.

**Author's Note:**

> I know AO3 is not a popular place for original works but go hard i guess.


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